Christopher’s: new fine dining cuisine in Charlottenburg

Located at Mommsenstrasse, just a few streets away from busy Kurfürstendamm, a well known institution for great wine starts a new chapter by changing its name to Christopher’s offering great international fine dining cuisine. Originally located in Mitte, the former winebar Schwein has recently moved to Charlottenburg. The new name didn’t come by accident: the chef Christopher Kümper, who was recently appointed the newcomer of the year by the board of Berlin master chefs and awarded with 15 points by the Gault Millau, runs the stoves of his new eponymous restaurant.

Photo: Christopher’s

Over the spectrum of his career, he was able to gain insights from within the Michelin star scene of New York to one of the main figures of the Asian cuisine André Chiang. This experience empowers him to build on a broad spectrum of techniques paired with the thrive to experiment, offering a variety of different styles. This idea is reflected by the new menu, as it changes every 4-6 weeks and only lists the current key ingredients the kitchen will build their dishes from. Thus, the exact dish will be a surprise and rely on the creative ideas of Christopher Kümper. Even regular guests can expect to be surprised!

Photo: Christopher’s

One of the dishes that’s served at Christopher’s is the marinated burrata with dried kimchi, dashi (proving the influence of the time the chef passed with André Chiang), coriander and seaweed. The burrata and the kimchi makes a great combination and the seaweed adds a nice salty flavor to the refreshing coriander. Texture-wise, the dried kimchi enriches the dish, adding an unusual and unique touch to it!

Photo: Max Tschöpe

Another dish that caught our attention was the variation of white chocolate served with strawberries and yogurt on top of a colorful striking basil vinaigrette. This dish was absolutely amazing! Christopher Kümper is playing with colors and texture while building a great blend of different sweetness levels, especially the basil vinaigrette, which might seem as an odd combination at first sight, but it turns out to be a perfect match, making you craving for more.

Photo: Max Tschöpe

Although the new concept is shifting the focus of the former Schwein from just wine to the more elaborated Kümper’s kitchen, no one has reasons to worry about the perfect wine pairing. There’s still a great selection of wines to choose from: exactly 360 wines and 150 gins! That said, all former fans of Schwein can be assured that, although the new name, the commitment to pairing great food with extraordinary drinks will last!